STAYCATION 2012: Let’s Get Soul-Searchy!

So, if my recently newfound giddiness hasn’t clued you in (or if you simply haven’t been around to take in said newfound giddiness), I am no longer working where I worked a week ago. I’ll save the details for my juicy memoir someday (2016, calling it), but for now we’ll say the time was right for me to go in another direction.

Because more importantly than that, three hours after leaving the previous job, I had a meeting that led to a new paid freelance opportunity, my first legit one, ever. So I rebounded pretty much immediately, even though it’s a gig, not a job, and I of course need to keep looking for part time work. But for now, I’m really going to focus on this project and make it count. It’s gotta be good. But in my other time, when I’m not working on this project or trying to find a part time job, you could say I’m having a staycation. With all this newfound freedom and promising future ahead, I can now do all the things I’ve been meaning to do for a while.

Make *all* the fan-art?

I’ve got my list of 26 Things To Do Before I’m 26, and I’m actually making some pretty good progress on it. Can I budget my way into a blazer, and maybe some nice shoes? Maybe, especially if I want to look good for interviews! Can I make a road trip and a trip to Canada? That’s certainly in the cards already, for September and October, respectively. If I get a new job before then, I can just tell them ahead of time I already made the plans! And I read somewhere that if you’re ever going to go into debt, it should be for travel. Not that I plan to go into debt!

oh god what

But most importantly, this is my true opportunity to make #23 on that list come true! Anything’s possible here, and right now I’m closer to achieving that than ever before. I guess I just got a little push. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it’s happening right on time for my two year anniversary in New York. So now’s a good chance to take a look at where I am now versus where I was two years ago:

In August 2010 I was fresh out of college, and came to New York with no connections, very little experience in the real world, and two suitcases full of dreams. So naive! How many times have I told that story before?

In August 2012 I’ve got quite a bit of experience working a real job, plus a lot filmmaking experience as well, with quite a bit of videos to show from it. Not to mention all the networking experience and the connections, among those connections a particularly awesome girlfriend who I have to thank for getting me at least, like, half that networking experience. And I’ve lived in four apartments here, become a master at the apartment hunting game, and finally got one that stuck. In Greenpoint, no less! Plus I have a lot more stuff than would fit in two suitcases.

I’m in a much better spot right now than I was two years ago (hell, I’m in a much better spot right now than I was two weeks ago). Two years ago I was just trying to survive here; now I can focus on thriving here. It’s awesome. I’m excited.